


the other city of love

by parknerish



Series: the other city of love [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Bi Peter Parker, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Gay Harley Keener, Harley Keener is a chaotic gay, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Italy, M/M, Panic Attacks, Rome - Freeform, Tony Stark Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2020-10-19 11:23:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20656433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parknerish/pseuds/parknerish
Summary: When Harley finally got off the plane, he stood off to the side and waited. It felt like forever before he saw a glimpse of Peter’s tousled hair through the crowd, and his heart clenched as his traitorous mind thought about how maybe that’s what Peter’s hair would look like if Harley kissed him and ran his hands through it, ruining whatever hairstyle Peter had more than an airplane seat ever could. As the younger boy approached him, he made an attempt to school his features, hoping that there was nothing on his face to indicate what he was thinking about. Thank god Spiderman’s abilities didn’t include mind reading because he would be in worlds of trouble if they did.Or, even 4000 miles away from home Harley can't stop pining after Peter





	1. papa smurf and britney spears

Harley sat on the plane, looking around in awe. It wasn’t a private jet, and it was crowded and he had strangers on either side of him, and the baby 5 seats over wouldn’t stay quiet for more than 5 minutes at a time, but it was a _plane_. It was a real plane, with tickets that cost more money than he had ever seen in his life, and he, Harley Keener, was sitting on it. So Harley was giddy like he hadn’t been in years despite not having even left the airport yet.

He looked down at his phone, taking his bottom lip between his teeth as he debated. Is it really _that _important to put your phone on airplane mode? While he didn’t have many people he cared to talk to, Peter _was _10 rows behind him. He cursed the lady that had been working check-in when they had arrived, they were _supposed _to be sitting together. He felt a little bad about shit talking her in his mind, what if she was new and just out of training and had just messed up?

But then he thought about how this was an 8hr flight and his best friend and possible (definite) crush was 10 rows away and this entire fucking plane was booked full so he was stuck here with papa smurf drooling on him from one side and a Britney Spears wannabe trying to chirp his ear off on the other. So yeah, he wasn’t completely happy and the awe at being on a plane would surely wear off soon, so god dammit he didn’t care if his phone fucked with the pilots a little.

Decision made, he guiltily turned off airplane mode and opened his messages, ignoring safe travel messages from Tony and Pepper and what seemed like the entirety of the universe. He typed out a quick text, turning around and craning his neck to see Peter. He stared at him religiously until the other boy looked in his direction and waved to him, the most adorable look of confusion on his face.

Harley held up his phone and pointed to it, raising his eyebrows. A second later, his phone vibrated with a new message and he rushed to open it. He scowled as he saw it was yet another message from Tony, reminding them to let him know when they arrived. He looked back towards Peter again, pouting as he made eye contact with the boy, ignoring the weirded out looks from several of the middle-aged passengers around him. This time when his phone vibrated, he took his time opening it, pouting once again when he read Peter’s message.

**PeterTingle: **I’m not keeping my phone off airplane mode after this plane takes off Harls

**Harley <3: **But I’ll be so bored :(

**PeterTingle: **Think of it as a practice in self-control

**Harley <3: **I’ve had lots of practice in self-control, thank you very much

Harley thought to himself about exactly how much practice he’d had since realizing his developing feelings for the young superhero. He’d done pretty damn good too, with the amount of times he had been seconds away from jumping the boy when he had come back from training, shirt practically hugging his abs with how damp it was with sweat. Or those times when Peter went off on a tangent about something he accomplished in the lab or something he and Ned got up to, and all Harley wanted to do was lean over and kiss him because he’s just so fucking cute. So yeah, he’d had lots of practice with self- control. Harley was broken out of his thoughts by another vibration of his phone.

**PeterTingle: **I’m turning my phone on airplane mode, don’t miss me too much ;)

**Harley <3: **You’re so mean to me, Parker

He sent the message, knowing no response would be coming, at least not for the next 8 hours. He turned his phone back onto airplane mode, not really seeing a point in keeping it on if Peter wasn’t going to be there to talk to, just as the pilot came over the PA system, telling everyone to prepare for take-off. He popped a piece of gum in his mouth, having heard that gum is supposed to help with his ears during take-off.

Ten minutes later, he strains his neck to look past the two people to his right and out the window as they get higher and higher. The last time he had been this high, he had been in Tony’s personal jet after his mother’s funeral and he had been numb and upset and too busy comforting a crying Abbie to really take in the view. He shuddered as he expelled those thoughts from his mind and moved onto the next crisis in the long ling of crisis’ that made up his life – what to do with the gum that was still in his mouth.

Harley prided himself on the fact that he had never swallowed a piece of gum in his life – that shit took ten years to digest, no thanks. He sat debating for a few minutes whether it was worth it to walk all the way to the bathroom and wait in the line just to get a piece of toilet paper to spit his gum in. His decision was made for him by the flight attendants coming down the aisles pushing carts, two on each side of the plane, and blocking his pathways to the bathroom.

When the first cart got to him and the attendant asked him if he wanted chicken or pasta, he kind of wanted to tell her neither because really, how good could airplane food be? But he also could feel his stomach grumbling already despite the fast food he and Peter had scarfed down right before boarding. Not really having a preference, he just asked for the pasta and stared with wide eyes at the tray put down in front him that not only had pasta, but also had bread, salad, crackers, chocolate, and individually wrapped swiss cheese.

He’d had more impressive meals in the past – he did live with Tony Stark after all, and though Tony couldn’t cook, like at all, he could pay others to do so – his growling stomach didn’t care. He spit his gum out into one of the napkins provided with the meal and was about to dig in when another cart stopped next to him.He eyed the wine at the top of the cart as they asked him what he wanted, knowing he wasn’t of legal age and deciding to go for it anyway.

The attendant didn’t bat an eyelash as they offered him red or white. Harley, not really an expert on wine or any kind of alcohol for that matter, asked for white, his eyes shining as they poured it out and handed it to him, not asking for an ID or anything. While a bit surprised, he assumed it was okay seeing as he was going to Italy, and the drinking age there is younger. He began to dig into his food, taking sips of the wine every now and then and scrunching his face up at the unfamiliar taste.

When he finished, he pulled up the entertainment section on the screen in front of him, looking at the movies offered. After ending up with Aladdin, he pulled out his headphones and began watching, switching the right headphone back and forth between his left and right ear because of course he had brought the half-broken headphones. 35 minutes and 16 seconds into the film, right as Aladdin was about to retrieve the lamp, he passed out.

After waking up multiple times, whether it be from the baby crying or the medical emergency in the back of the plane - it had just turned out to be a nosebleed -, Harley almost cried in relief when they said to get ready for landing. As awed as he was at the beginning of the flight, he was pretty tired of the snoring in his left ear and the man two rows in front of him that yelled at anyone trying to pass through about his broken leg. When Harley finally got out of the plane, carrying his backpack stuffed full with snacks and an extra outfit, he stood off to the side and waited.

It felt like forever before he saw a glimpse of Peter’s tousled hair through the crowd, and his heart clenched as his traitorous mind thought about how maybe that’s what Peter’s hair would look like if Harley kissed him and ran his hands through it, ruining whatever hairstyle Peter had more than an airplane seat ever could. As the younger boy approached him, he made an attempt to school his features, hoping that there was nothing on his face to indicate what he was thinking about. Thank god Spiderman’s abilities didn’t include mind reading because he would be in worlds of trouble if they did.

Peter grabbed Harley’s wrist and began pulling him away from the terminal and towards the big signs that Harley was trying to decipher, despite knowing very little Italian. Harley tried not to think about how much better it would be if Peter slid his hand down a little further on his arm as they hurried along, and if he lagged behind for a second just to see if the position of Peter’s hand would change, then nobody had to know. Nobody had to know that the satisfied smile on Harley’s face was due to Peter’s hand slipping lower as Peter tried to pull him to go faster. And if Peter didn’t let go when they finally found their way to customs and had to wait in line to have their passports checked, well, Harley wasn’t going to be the one to point it out. No, he was just going to stand there with a dumb smile on his face despite how exhausted he was, clutching onto Peter Parker’s hand.

“I’m just gonna put my head here.” Peter mumbled as he leaned against the taller boy, who in turn resisted the urge to lean down and kiss the top of Peter’s head.

“Of course, darlin’.” Harley forced out, hoping against all hopes that Peter’s heightened hearing would just stop working right then because he was positive that his heart was not being normal. He looked ahead at all the people ahead of them, not bothering to count as he could see it was at least 50 people and there were only 2 security scanners open.

He reached behind Peter with his free hand to grab the earplugs in the side pocket of the backpack and brought them up to the ear Peter didn’t have pressed against his chest, knowing that the noise of the airport was probably a bit much for him. Peter made some type of muffled sound against his chest and pushed himself closer and Harley smiled, interpreting it as his way of thanks. As the line slowly moved, they shuffled along as one, ignoring any looks from outsiders. Harley pouted when they got to the front of the line because not only did Peter have to move away from him, but he also let go of his hand.

When they finally made it through the scanners and had their passports stamped by the airport workers, Harley and Peter made their way towards the baggage claim area, waiting for less than a minute before they grabbed their luggage. They made their way towards the exit, pausing to the side of the doors to regroup.

“Okay darlin’, so now what?” Harley looked to Peter, seeing as he was the one that planned this trip. Despite the fact that Tony saw them both as his kids and would have definitely paid for them to go on whatever kind of trip if they really wanted to, Peter had taken it upon himself to enter a random giveaway that American Airlines had been promoting on Instagram. Of course, in true helicopter parent fashion, Tony had insisted Peter decline the prize and take the private jet instead, only giving in when Peter promised to bring his nanotech suit and let him know of his plans to invite Harley. Never mind the fact that Peter could be pretty stubborn when he wanted.

Tony had tried to book them nice hotels and arrange everything that the giveaway hadn’t provided, even going as far as threatening to keep them from going before he gave in and let them have control. Harley knew that Peter had wanted authentic traveling and nothing fancy, but he wasn’t entirely sure where exactly they were staying. Harley looked towards the huge crowd of people, all holding signs with names on them, wondering if their names would be on one of those signs. His hopes of that were crushed when Peter turned to him with a smile.

“Now, we find the right bus.”


	2. non parliamo inglese

It turned out that the right bus took twenty minutes to find. They had wandered back and forth, trying desperately to decipher the Italian signs around them and looking back and forth from the phone in Peter’s hand to those same signs. Similarly to the plane, the bus was almost completely full by the time Harley and Peter found it and paid for their tickets, or as Peter kept repeating, their “biglietti”.

“We have to practice our Italian, Harls! It’s not tickets, it’s biglietti,” He had said, only after having the google translate app repeat it to him a few times, “We have to honor May and Mr. Stark’s heritage, ya know.”

“Honestly Pete, Tony doesn’t even know any Italian other than the curses and May only knows how to say ciao and grazie.” Harley had laughed before moving past the employee they had bought their tickets from and putting his stuff in the luggage compartment of the bus. Peter had followed him and done the same before they boarded the bus, only to find that the only open seats were rows away from each other.

Harley grumbled to himself as he pushed his way to the back of the bus, stopping every few steps because the strap of his bag just kept getting stuck on things. He looked between his options; a boy that looked to be about his age, or an older man that looked like he’d had a few too many beers. Peter had chosen a seat closer to the front of the bus already, so neither option really had benefits.

After choosing to sit next to the boy, Harley threw his bag into the overhead compartment and sat down. As the bus began driving, the boy suddenly spread his legs a little and slouched down. Harley moved over a tiny bit and looked down at his phone when the boy spread his legs even more.

This continued for the next few stops and suddenly Harley understood why women complained about manspreading, cause damn it was annoying. He didn’t want anybody’s thighs pressed up against his like this boys were, Peter excluded of course.

Besides that, he’d almost been hit in the head multiple times by people dropping the bags they were trying to put in the overhead compartment. How hard could it be to just lift a bag? Eventually, Harley just began helping people with their bags, if only to avoid a concussion.

As annoying as these almost injuries and manspreading were, the most bothersome thing Harley experienced was the way Peter’s seat partner was not manspreading and ignoring Peter as Harley’s partner was doing, but instead seemed to be engaged in a great conversation with Peter.

He tried to stop the jealousy that was coursing through him and avert his eyes, but he didn’t last more than five seconds before he was looking back over because, well, that was a cute Italian girl and Peter’s eyes were lighting up and Harley wasn’t the reason for it this time.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want Peter to have conversations and meet cool people while they were here, because Peter loved people and experiencing new things, but did the first one really have to be a really pretty Italian girl with nice eyes and a friendly smile and all the things that a straight boy like Peter would want? Like boobs and long hair, just to name a few things.

Harley thought about how he could probably compete with the nice eyes and the friendly smile, and maybe he could even grow his hair out more, but as he looked down at his chest he knew that he didn’t exactly have the parts that Peter was interested in. What was so good about boobs anyways?

Harley sat there stewing in his jealousy and watching Peter’s interaction like a creep, or maybe like a teenage boy who was a little hopelessly in love, paying no attention to anybody around until he was violently interrupted by what felt like a brick scraping the back of his head.

He jumped and turned to see a woman sheepishly holding a hideous yellow handbag that could probably fit the entirety of Queens in it. She began to make what he assumed was apologies, not that he could understand what mi dispiace meant, before he waved her off with a tight smile.

Having been ripped out of his jealously haze, Harley hadn’t been watching Peter and his new friend for a few moments, so when he turned back to face forward and no longer saw the back of Peter’s head or the side of Peter’s face, he began to freak out.

He looked around, jumping in his seat when he came face to face with Peter standing next to him. Peter smiled and reached out a hand, grasping Harley’s hand and pulling him up.

“This is our stop,” Harley went to grab his backpack from above when Peter lifted his other hand to show it dangling from his fingers, “Looking for this?”

Blushing like an idiot, Harley shrugged and followed Peter off the bus, looking around them in awe. Rome truly was beautiful. As the bus pulled away, Harley continued to take in their surroundings as Peter looked down at his phone, pulling up directions or something.

“There’s so many cats.”

Peter looked up immediately, following Harley’s gaze to a stray cat lounging in the sunlight a few feet away.

“Hey lil kitty, what are you up to?” Peter crouched down and motioned towards the cat, trying to get it to come to them. He pouted when it didn’t move, except to get away when he moved closer.

“Better luck next time, Petey.” Harley bumped his shoulder into Peter’s as he stood back up. He looked back at his phone and then down the street before he turned to Harley.

“I think we go that way.”

“Lead the way darlin’.” And so Peter turned and grabbed his luggage and backpack, waiting for Harley to do the same. They began to make their way down the street, both of them a little too awestruck by their surroundings to really converse.

Nothing was super special about this specific area, it was just houses and a few small shops, but even those simple things seemed like art to them. They passed a jewelry store, as well as a bank and a gelato shop.

Harley thought about suggesting they stop and buy something to break the 500 euro bills Tony had given then, because of course that’s something he would just have lying around, but he didn’t really have the energy to do anything right then.

About halfway down the street, Peter turned right with Harley following behind him. Exhausted from the flight and now all the walking, Harley looked down at the ground as he dragged his feet along. Because of this, he didn’t notice when Peter abruptly stopped and turned around. He definitely noticed when he ran into the strong chest though, as Peter reached out to steady him.

To be honest, Harley was probably more likely to fall due to the shock of having Peter’s hands holding onto his biceps than he from running into Peter. He blushed yet again, mumbling a quick ‘sorry’ as Peter let go of him.

“I went the wrong way.” Harley rolled his eyes and tried to hide the small quirk of his lips. As exhausted as he was and as quickly as he wanted to get to their place, he could never be annoyed with Peter.

“Of course you did, darlin’, maybe I should lead the way.” Harley teased the shorter boy, chuckling as Peter stomped past him back the way they came, not waiting for Harley to catch up.

They turned the wrong way several more times before coming to a stop halfway down a street. Peter looked to their left and through the gates to what seemed to be a cobblestone parking lot.

“It says this is it.” Peter said, almost questioning. Harley raised his eyebrows before entering the parking lot. Peter followed after him, sighing when they saw a few lettered entrances further down. Harley looked back to Peter.

“What letter?”

Peter looked down at his phone, frowning.

“I don’t see a letter –“ Peter was interrupted by one of the doors opening and a man stepping out.

“the Starks?” He said with a heavy accent, making Peter nod and Harley mouth ‘the Starks?’ to Peter behind the man’s back as they followed him into the building. He led them through a rather small lobby, Harley stopping once or twice because his luggage actually sucked and kept getting stuck on the small pieces of the floor that were just a little cracked, and stopped in front of the first door.

Harley noted how small the door was, and how it opened like those folding closet doors. While he was sure that this was nothing special to this Italian man, he was intent on taking note of all the details while they were on this trip.

His entire life, he’d been observant and curious. He hadn’t had many friends in school but he still seemed to know everything about everyone. All you really had to do was pay attention. So during this trip, that’s what he planned to do.

He followed the Italian man, who introduced himself as Edoardo, and Peter into the room, squeezing himself and his luggage through the small opening. The man gestured around him, pointing to the bathroom, the kitchen, and bedrooms.

“So tru there is your bedroom, this is de bathroom, and de kitchen is right over there.”

They looked around, putting their stuff down for easier mobility. Peter pointed towards two other doors.

“What are these rooms?” The man, _Edoardo, _Harley reminded himself, smiled at them.

“More guests! Two in this room, two in that room.” Harley raised his eyebrows, turning to Peter, who smiled back sheepishly. The man left the complex after ensuring they had everything they needed and Harley turned to Peter.

“More guests? I didn’t realize we were staying in a hostel,” He teased, causing Peter to roll his eyes and shove him softly. Picking up their stuff that had been half-hazardly thrown on the floor after they entered, they made their way to the bedroom that had been pointed out as theirs.

Harley opened the door, his eyes immediately being scarred by the bare nakedness of the couple that was in the full sized bed in the room. His mouth dropped open as he froze. That was more skin than he ever wanted to see of anyone he knew, let alone two random strangers in the middle of Rome.

“Why are you stopping?” Peter came up behind Harley, trying to peer over his shoulder, prompting Harley into action. He slammed the door shut and spun around to face Peter.

“Uhhh, either that man –“ 

“Edoardo?”

“Yes, but anyways, either _Edoardo_booked another two people in our room, or he just has no idea whose room is whose, because there are people in there. There are people in there making more people oh my god,” Harley leant against the door, running a hand down his face. “Oh my god, that’s so gross, omg, Peter, oH –“ He floundered as the door behind was suddenly opened and he fell into the room and onto his back.

He looked up at the older couple who in turn stared down at him in surprise.

“Uhhh, hello.” He could tell that his face was tomato red and in all honesty, he thought he could die of humiliation. He let out a breath of relief as Peter reached out a hand to pull him up.

“I am so so so sorry about that, Edoardo told us this was our room and we just wanted to unpack and we didn’t realize people were inside, I just am so sorry.” Harley continued to ramble on for at least another minute before stopping to catch his breath, only to gape at the couple when they spoke up.

“Non parliamo inglese, italiano?” He froze for the second time in five minutes, only moving when the snickering behind him kept getting louder. He turned to see Peter practically bent in half, laughing. He shook his head, backing away from the couple and pulling out his StarkPhone.

He typed in an apology and waited for it to translate before turning the phone to the couple. The man read the text and began nodding his head vigorously.

“Nessuna preoccupazione, nessuna preoccupazione. La tua stanze è laggiù.” The man gestured to the next room over, which Harley assumed meant that was their room. He thanked the man before grabbing onto his stuff and speed walking down the hall, leaving a still laughing Peter behind.

_“Well, that couple had only a single bed which meant all the rooms were probably a single bed, right?” _Harley thought as he reached the door. This time, he knocked before opening it, not wanting to chance yet another awkward encounter. When no response came, he opened the door. While this room did seem to be empty and ready for them, he was disappointed to realize that there was not one full sized bed, but instead two twin sized beds.

_“So much for the classic “there’s only one bed and they have to share and then they realize their feelings for each other” trope.” _Harley thought to himself, “_wouldn’t that have been nice.”_

The room was small, with a mirror in the far corner and the two twin beds against the back wall. Harley wrinkled his nose at the yellow paint on the walls, not that he hated the color itself but do they really need to see sunflower yellow bombarding their senses as soon as the woke up. Not to mention the tacky looking flowers that looked like they were painted on by the owner’s son. Well, Harley supposed, that could be endearing in a way.

Harley put his luggage on the floor in front of one of the beds, placing his phone on the side table and raising his eyebrows as it shook a little. He turned to the boy just entering the room behind him, with remnants of laughter still lingering on his face.

“I’d like a black hole to open up right here and swallow me,” Harley said, ignoring Peter’s smirk as the boy placed his luggage in front of the bed that Harley hadn’t claimed.

“I know I told Tony I would bring the suit with me in case of an emergency, but if you could refrain from such wishes that’d be nice,” Peter said dryly, throwing himself onto the bed, “I’m so tired.”

“It’s only 11:00AM, we have all night to sleep!”

“20 minutes.” Peter grumbled into his pillow. Harley tried to fight back a smile as he looked over at the back of the younger boy’s head. He paused in unpacking his backpack, staring at the boy, deep in thought about how Peter probably had his nose scrunched up in that cute way that he always did when he was tired or grumpy.

And how his hair was still sticking up in different directions and okay maybe Harley was also thinking about the fact that Peter probably deserved the title of “America’s ass” more than Captain America, but whatever. _Queens’ Ass_Harley thought to himself, trying to not stare at the ass in question. He shook his head and threw himself down on to his own bed, curling up on his side and facing Peter.

His eyes locked in on the curls that were going wild and he found himself almost unconsciously reaching out a hand before quickly retracting said hand and forcing himself to practically lie on top of it. His hands basically had minds of their own when it came to his crush, which meant he needed to be diligent in keeping them in line.

He didn’t quite how long he had been zoned out staring at the boy occupying his mind when Peter turned over, coming face to face to him. He quickly averted his eyes, cursing himself for being too obvious.

When he looked back, he breathed out a sigh of relief that Peter’s eyes were closed. He smiled softly to himself as his suspicions were confirmed as Peter did indeed have his nose scrunched up, and Harley fell asleep with that thought in mind and that smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for reading! I wrote this on a ten hour flight so like if there's mistakes i'm sorry. Please let me know what y'all think!


	3. like the NJ PATCO

Harley woke up to strong hands on his shoulders and an angel repeating his name – err, well Peter repeating his name, but close enough. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked up at the bleary face hovering over him until it came into focus.

“Finally, sleepyhead. Let’s go explore. Like you said, we have all night to sleep,” Peter’s deep brown eyes locked with Harley’s own hazel, and Harley struggled to keep himself from losing himself in those eyes. If it weren’t for Peter’s excited voice permeating his ears once again, he definitely would have lost that fight. “C’mon, Harlssssss.”

Harley groaned and sat up, looking over at his phone and seeing that only had 30 minutes had passed. Peter truly had meant it when he said 20 minutes. Slowly waking up, Harley looked back at Peter, noting that he had showered and gotten changed into new clothes - shorts and a science pun t-shirt of course. This one featured two beakers of some kind of liquid with the words "You're overreacting". He smiled slightly at the fanny pack the other boy had. Adorable.

Harley pulled at his own shirt, wrinkling his nose at the strong smell of sweat that had accumulating over the course of their flight and bus ride. 

“When do you want to head out, darlin’,” Harley asked, “I kind of smell like a dumpster here.”

“Whenever you’re ready, I can wait.” Peter smiled at him, eyes still full of childlike excitement and anticipation and Harley couldn’t help but feel the same childlike excitement begin to fill him. Who could blame him? Peter’s happiness was just so infectious.

Harley made his way down the hall to the communal bathroom that they appeared to be sharing with other guests, taking a moment to study the shower before getting undressed. Just as he was pulling down his boxers, he froze, realizing that in his haste to pack, he might have missed a few essentials.

“Fuck,” he whispered to himself before pulling his boxers back on. He debated whether or not he should pull the rest of his clothes back on, but in the end decided to just stick his head out of the bathroom door, “Hey Peter??” When the other boy stuck his head out of their bedroom, an unexpected blush took over his face despite the fact that most of his body was covered by the door.

“Any chance I could borrow your shower stuff?” Peter nodded an affirmative before ducking back into their bedroom and reemerging with a small clear bag with travel sized essentials. The boy walked over, still not saying a word and handed the bag to Harley. The door opened wider as Harley reached a hand out and for a second, he could have sworn he saw Peter look down. He shook his head and chalked it up to his over imaginative mind as he grabbed the bag from Peter.

“Thanks, darlin’” He drawled and wondered if he was imagining the way Peter’s face went beet red as he stuttered out a simple ‘you’re welcome’.

He closed the door and leaned against it for a second, sighing to himself. _Way to make your crush uncomfortable, Harley. You’re just so good at this aren’t you? _Shampoo, conditioner, and soap acquired, Harley finally made his way into the shower and began to wash off the past 24 hours build-up of sweat and grime.

As he rubbed shampoo into his hair, admiring the way that it smelled like Peter – _obviously Harley, it’s Peter’s shampoo you dumbass_– , he thought again about the excitement Peter had exhibited and vowed to himself to make sure that there was always a smile on Peter Parker’s face.

That boy had gone through too many hard things in his life and if Harley was capable of making that face light up like he had seen it ten minutes prior, than everybody should be damn sure that’s what he was going to do. 

He wondered if maybe he should be worried about how often his thoughts turned to the boy In the other room but figured hey, he was a teenager with a crush, this was normal. His thoughts began to wander to other things he liked about Peter but before he got too far, he shook his head and reminded himself that this needed to be a quick shower.

When he finally finished and got dressed in a pair of shorts and a green button up, he found Peter sitting on his bed scrolling through his phone. He looked up as Harley entered, pushing himself off the bed and onto his feet.

“Ready to go?”

They left the Airbnb, only after taking a picture of the code needed to buzz themselves back into the building and making sure they had the keys for the specific apartment they were in.

“So where to, darlin?” Harley slung his arm around Peter’s shoulders casually, almost pulling back when the other boy tensed up. However, almost immediately Peter relaxed again so Harley figured he was probably fine.

“I was thinking we could do some touristy stuff? We’re only going to be in Rome for a few days before we leave for the opposite coast.” Harley nodded along as Peter talked about what he wanted to do. In all honesty, Harley didn’t quite care what they did as long as it made Peter happy. He was amazed to even be brought along on this trip in the first place.

Less than a minute into walking, Harley started rethinking his decision to sling his arm around Peter. It wasn’t really the comfiest way to walk; it was rather awkward actually, but at that point, Harley couldn’t just stop. He was in too deep now. Besides, if he just ignored the awkwardness, the contact with Peter was kind of nice.

He continued following Peter’s lead as they walked who knows where, just enjoying the environment. He hummed in recognition when they began approaching the entrance to the metro. He felt equal parts relieved and disappointed when he got his arm back from around Peter’s shoulders… maybe a bit more disappointed but the relief was there.

They went down two escalators and one staircase to get all the way to the bottom, Harley learning to only stand on the right side of the escalator after being yelled at multiple times. He didn’t really get why people walked down escalators but to each their own.

When they got to the bottom, Harley and Peter made their way to the ticket machine, easily buying four tickets, two for the way there and two for the return trip. Once they had their tickets, they moved to go through to the platform. Peter easily went through while Harley paused.

“Ever been on the New Jersey PATCO?” Peter asked, watching Harley’s confused face look down at the machine in front of him.

“Uhhhhh, no. I’ve barely even been on the subway more than a handful of times since Happy drives me.”

“Ahh well, just put the ticket in with the direction the arrow is pointing and then grab it when it comes out on the top. Easy peasy.” Peter smirked at Harley, teasing him as he attempts to get through.

“I would have figured it out eventually, I was just confused for a second,” Harley muttered as he walked through, “How do you even know how the NJ shit works anyways?”

“Ned has some family in NJ and I tagged along to his cousin’s birthday party once.” Peter shrugged as they waited at the edge of the platform for their train to come. They only had to wait a minute or two before their train pulled up.

When they got on, it was too crowded for either of them to grab a seat, so Harley grabbed onto one of the poles, his hand finding what seemed to be one of the last empty spots available to grab.

He blushed as he practically felt Peter’s body inches away from him, the blush deepening as the metro took a particularly sharp turn, therefore knocking Peter off his feet slightly and into Harley. Harley begged the universe to make the damn blood his face go literally anywhere else.

“What, no sticking to the floor of the train?” Harley looked to the side, teasing the superhero as said superhero grabbed onto his shoulder. He tried desperately to keep the smirk on his face as he made eye contact with the boy. You _just _got your face to cool down, do _not _blush again, he reminded himself.

“I’m wearing shoes, you buttface, you know it doesn’t work with so much material between my feet and –“ Peter glared at Harley as the other boy cut him off.

“I know, darlin’, just messing with you.” Harley looked away, biting his lip. When the next stop came, what felt like a hundred new people entered with maybe 10 people leaving. Logistically Harley knew that this was an exaggeration but with the way Peter was being shoved into him, it felt like more than what it was.

He resisted the urge to pull Peter closer to him, but frankly, he wasn’t sure how long he could do so. Especially not as he felt Peter’s fingers find their temporary home in the cloth of his t-shirt as Peter clutched onto him. Luckily, at the next stop, Peter moved away and motioned for him to follow.

As they exited the subway, the _metro _Harley reminded himself, they seemed to switch places, with Harley now holding onto Peter from behind as they weaved through the crowd.

He questioned why Peter was so good at this if he’d never been to Rome before, but he chalked it up to all of Peter’s experience with the New York subway. How different could it be?

While Harley tended to be the planner out of the two of them more often than not, he had taken a backseat on this trip and had let Peter take the reins seeing as it was Peter that had won this giveaway.

And plan, Peter did. Harley hadn’t been told a lot about these plans, not that he’d really cared much, but he trusted Peter and was willing to follow him all over the damn world if needed. If Peter asked, he definitely never said that though.

When they emerged from underground, Harley noted that they were definitely in a busier part of the city. As they began walking, Harley lagged behind, caught up in ‘what-if’ thoughts that may or may not have involved grabbing Peter’s hand or finding some other way to physically attach himself to the other boy. 

This then led to other thoughts about the Italian culture and what was socially acceptable or not and really, would it be seen as disrespectful or wrong for two boys to hold hands in this city?

He wasn’t sure where Italy stood on homophobia and acceptance and all that, and really for someone as obsessed with holding Peter Parker’s hand as he was, he had not researched any of this enough, or at all.

To be fair, he had thought about looking things like that up, but an irrational fear of his search history being seen had stopped him. Never mind the fact that he was practically a genius and could probably, no, _definitely, _make his search history entirely untraceable. 

However, the paranoia he felt, as deep in the closet as he was, made him hesitant to even chance the idea of somebody seeing anything. And maybe he was a little less than consistent with this personal rule of his, particularly when it came to certain videos boys of his age may or may not be interested it, but that was truly beside the point.

Harley was forcibly brought out of his own head as he ran straight into the back of Peter. Except when he looked up, the back in front of him was not Peter. And neither was the person to his left or his right or anywhere in his eyesight.

“Fuck.” Harley whispered to himself as he looked around frantically, trying his best to look for the boy he had just been thinking about. He was just about ready to pull up the tracking app on his phone, a feature that he never used before, when he felt a hand tap his shoulder.

He spun around, eyes meeting the half-amused, half-worried eyes of his companion.

“Hey, are you okay, Harls?” The boy asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder and paying no attention to the people streaming around them.

“Uhh, yeah I’m fine. Just lost you for a second there.” If anything, Peter’s eyes grew more worried at this.

“I was trying to get your attention but you seemed out of it so I lagged behind you but it looks like you didn’t notice literally any of that. You sure you’re okay?” Peter looked up at the taller boy as Harley opened his mouth and froze. Had he really been that focused on his thoughts?

“Yeah, ofc darlin’. Just a little tired, my bad.” Harley laughed it off, smiling at Peter as he raised his eyebrows.

“Alright, but I think I’m gonna have to hold onto you just to make sure you don’t get lost,” Peter smirked at Harley, teasing him, “can’t lose our small town boy in a big city across the pond, can we?”

Harley laughed and tried his best to push down the warm feeling that was bubbling in his chest as Peter grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. Well, at least I got what I wanted in the first place, Harley thought as he relished in the feeling of his palm pressed against the warmth of Peter’s.

He smiled softly to himself as the other boy pulled him along, ready for the next part in their adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! I wanted to have this out earlier but it was my birthday weekend and I ended up being a lot busier than I thought. Let me know what you think!


	4. Fontana di Trevi

Harley held on tight to Peter’s hand as they made their way through the crowd. He didn’t know where they were going but he trusted Peter. Hell, he probably trusted Peter more than he’d ever trusted anyone in his entire life, which was a little alarming seeing as he hadn’t known Peter for that long.

Really, it hadn’t even been a year, even though it felt like he’d grown up with the boy. He still remembered the first time he had met Peter, after getting off of Tony’s jet with his face blotchy and red and his eyes burning with the effort of holding back tears.

He had stayed awake the entire flight, holding a crying Abby, which then turned into a sleeping Abby, in his arms.

Tony had sat across from them silently, his face pinched in an expression of worry and the corners of his mouth pointed down. Several times during the flight, Harley had been sure Tony was about to speak up, but the man never did.

He hadn’t been sure what was going through the billionaire’s mind, though he could only assume the man was trying to figure what the fuck he was going to do with two orphaned teenagers.

Over the years since the Mandarin incident, Tony had kept in touch with Harley, and although Harley definitely had begun to see the mechanic as a sort of father figure, he wasn’t sure how the man saw him.

It was hard to think of himself as anything more than a burden to the man that had sat across from him, looking exhausted and stressed. There he was, a 17 year old boy with enough daddy issues to write a book about and a little sister that had just as many, forcing the billionaire into missing countless important meetings to come pick them up because they had nobody else to call.

Harley had sat there on the plane in silence for most of the flight, keeping his face as emotionless as possible, something he had learned to do early on in life. He had no clue what would be in store for him and Abby in New York.

Sure, Tony had come down to Rose Hill when he had called, and he had stayed with them and hugged them throughout the planning and execution of their mothers’ funeral, but Harley had known that it was temporary, and any good man would have done the same.

Besides, he had thought bitterly to himself, he’s already practically got two kids, he doesn’t need any more.

Of course, he had known about Morgan and was nowhere near bitter about her. However, he remembered the hurt he had felt when he had been on the phone with Tony the very first time Tony mentioned a new intern.

A new intern that practically took up all of Tony’s attention. Harley had disliked Peter Parker the second he had heard about the boy that took _his _place in Tony Stark’s life, and he had felt burning jealousy and hate coursing through him the first time Tony had missed their weekly call.

He had called the next week, apologizing and citing a situation with Peter Parker as the reason he had gone awol.

So Harley had been quite certain of one thing as he sat on the jet heading towards Stark Tower, and it was the inevitable fact that Peter Parker was better than him, which meant Tony didn’t need him around. And if Tony didn’t need him around, then he certainly wouldn’t want a 12-year-old girl around either.

He had sat on that plane, his mind a jumble of questions that he had no answers to, dreading their arrival at the tower because even in his sorrow, he couldn’t forget Tony’s warning about who would be at the tower when they arrived.

He had made a plan in his head years before when his hate of Peter Parker was at an all-time high, that if he ever met the asshole that they wouldn’t be friends.

He had wanted nothing to do with his replacement, and if he hadn’t been so upset and exhausted when they arrived, maybe he would have had a slight chance at maintaining that plan. 

But when he had walked off of that jet and followed Tony down the landing strip and into the penthouse, the first thing he had noticed about Peter Parker was the kindness in his eyes.

He had always imagined an aggressive meeting with glares on both sides, so when he saw the empathy and sadness in the other boys eyes, his feet had faltered. He had frozen as he made eye contact with the boy, all thoughts of aggression falling away from his mind.

Tony had continued on with a sleeping Abby in his arms, disappearing down the hallway. And just like that, all alone in Tony Stark’s penthouse with a boy he had never met but had heard a million stories about, Harley had broken down.

The dam had broken and tears had streamed down his already red face – fat, ugly tears with loud accompanying sobs along with them. Peter had immediately stepped up and wrapped his arms around the sobbing boy, leading him further into the penthouse and over to the couch, where he had silently held the boy as he cried.

The next day, Harley had hidden in the room, his room, Tony had shown him to after his breakdown, too embarrassed to emerge and face the boy he had yet to speak any words to but had gotten his snot all over.

When he had finally been convinced to leave his room and put something in his stomach, he hadn’t thought it was possible for him to become more embarrassed. He knew he had been wrong as soon as he saw the boy that had held him through his breakdown the night before.

Not only had he gotten his snot all over a boy that didn’t even know him, let alone the fact that it was the same boy he had devoted his life to hating, but the boy was _cute_.

He had gotten his snot and tears all over possibly the cutest boy he had ever seen and holy shit, that was forever going to be the first impression Peter Parker would have of him, and oh fuck, how was he supposed to fix this situation.

He had frozen in the doorway of the kitchen, his cheeks burning as he struggled to find some way to apologize, only to find that it was unnecessary.

The boy had gotten up and introduced himself with a smile, shaking Harley’s hand and immediately roping him into a conversation about his chemistry class and a project he had been working on with his best friend, Ned. Harley had sat and joined in, ignoring the fluttering in his chest.

Flash forward to not even a year later, and here Harley was clutching on to Peter’s hand, thinking about how he was 100 % a little bit infatuated with Peter from the very first day.

His heart fluttered now in the middle of Rome, the same way it did in Tony’s kitchen in NYC, all because of the boy who was pulling him through the hordes of tourists and Italian natives trying to sell Michael Kors knock-offs and cheap jewelry.

Harley let Peter lead the way, noting how the crowd seemed to be getting denser as they walked. Harley perked up as he heard the sound of water falling and not long after, they rounded a corner and he looked up in awe at the giant sculptures. He watched as the water crashed down, barely noticing as his mouth fell open. He wasn’t sure when he would stop being so shocked by the beauty of Rome, if he ever did. Part of him hoped the magical feeling would never go away. Harley didn’t know how long he had been admiring the fountain when someone bumped into him and Peter from behind. He stumbled, his grip on Peter’s hand tightening and then letting go completely as he heard a hateful mutter behind him.

“Fucking gays.”

Harley whipped around, only able to catch the back of two guys walking away and disappearing into the crowd. He felt his heart race and his stomach began to feel sick as he stood frozen, not wanting to turn back to face Peter. He thought about just ignoring the comment and pretending like he hadn’t heard anything, but he knew that was out of the question when he felt Peter’s hand on his shoulder, barely touching as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he could touch Harley.

“Harls?” Peter let his hand grip Harley’s shoulder firmly then, and pulled him around.

Harley tried to plaster a smile on his face, feeling vulnerable and hating it. He knew he had failed when Peter’s eyes grew more worried and his hand gripped Harley’s shoulder tighter.

_Holy fuck, holy fuck Harley, you gotta calm down. Oh shit, he definitely knows, just look at your reaction, oh he definitely knows now. _Harley tried to back away from Peter, thinking the worst. Peter was a genius, surely he would realize that Harley was at the very least not straight, if not gay, based on how Harley had reacted.

“Harley, everything’s fine, I promise,” Peter said, his voice firm as he placed his other hand on Harley’s other shoulder, holding on tightly despite Harley’s attempts to leave. Harley continued to panic, his chest feeling tight as he struggled to inhale. He barely registered it as Peter moved him away from the fountain and towards a slightly more secluded area. Peter sat him down on a bench and let go of his shoulders.

Despite the fact that he had been trying to pull away before, Harley felt himself panicking more without the touch.Breathing felt even harder than before, as if he had just finished running a marathon.He didn’t realize how bad his hands were shaking until they were forced to stay still when Peter grabbed onto them. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to swallow, his throat suddenly dry and his eyes decidedly_not. _

As a few tears leaked out from the corners of his eyes, he tried to focus on Peter. Peter, who was still kneeling in front of him, holding onto his hands as he spoke. Everything sounded fuzzy and Harley’s vision was blurred through the tears when he opened his eyes.

“It’s okay, you’re okay, I’ve got you. Just listen to my heart, okay? Breathe, baby.” Peter whispered assurances to Harley as he guided one of Harley’s hands up to his heart.

Harley gasped out breaths as he felt his hand become encased in warmth as Peter placed his hand on top, clasping their hands together over his heart. Harley’s mind was all over the place as he raced from one thought to the next.

He thought about how strong and firm Peter’s chest felt under his hand, and then immediately began panicking over how gay he must look with his hand on another man’s chest, and then he was thinking about how kind and understanding Peter was, and then the panic came in again. Despite feeling like he would never calm down or breathe normally again, his heart slowly began to sync up with Peter’s.

“Pete –“ He said, now clutching onto Peter’s shirt on his own. His hand had stopped shaking at some point and he felt his face begin to heat up as he slowly took in breaths. Peter began counting to ten, urging Harley to count along. Harley felt his heart clench, this time with affection for the boy sitting in front of him. When he finally felt like he had his breathing under control, he pulled his hand away and wiped at his eyes.

“You okay?”

Harley looked down at his lap, playing with his own fingers as he avoided eye contact with the boy. Peter was still kneeling in front of him and didn’t look like he was going to be moving any time soon. Harley mumbled out a reply and shrugged, not sure what to do from here. What was he supposed to do or say, anyway? oh hey, yeah I just had a panic attack because surprise, I’m gay, oh and also in love with you, hope that’s okay. Yeah, no, he couldn’t say that but he also couldn’t deny that he just had a major freak out.

For the first time since meeting Peter a year before, Harley wasn’t sure what to say. He felt an unfamiliar awkwardness bubbling up in his chest and before the silence could drag on any longer, he forced a smile onto his face and looked up.

“Sorry, I don’t know what happened back there, darlin’. I think the crowds just overwhelmed me but I should be good now,” He smiled at Peter, ignoring the confused looks the boy was sending his way as he made to stand up. He held out a hand to help Peter off the ground, pulling the other boy up so he was standing. He expected Peter to move back immediately and his face began to flush again when the boy stayed exactly where he was, mere inches away from Harley.

“But those guys –“

“Don’t worry bout it, Petey. Besides, why would lil old me be so upset by that, it’s not like either of us are gay or anything, right?” Harley let out a laugh, wanting Peter to just let it go. He knew he was laying it on a little thick, but hopefully Peter would just be relieved that he was over it. He was shocked when as soon as he finished speaking, the smaller boy stumbled away with an almost hurt expression on his face, clearing his throat and turning away.

“Right,” Peter smiled at him and if the smile seemed a bit off, well, Harley just chalked it up to his imagination, “Do you want to continue on or should we head back?” Peter asked hesitantly. Harley turned back towards the fountain they had previously been at, motioning for Peter to follow.

“Let’s keep going. Tell me about all of this,” He gestured around them. Peter perked up a bit and began to talk about the places they were passing as they walked back to what he had now learned was Trevi Fountain.

“And a lot of movies have been filmed here and include the Trevi Fountain, like the Lizzie McGuire movie!”

Harley smiled to himself, tension easing out of him as he listened to Peter rambling. Listening to Peter talk about something he was passionate about or knew a lot about was something Harley found calming, as he had learned in the past year. He also knew that it was something Peter benefitted from as well.

They made their way through the crowd, Peter now in front of Harley. They weaved around the tourists taking pictures and made their way closer. When they found themselves at the edge of the fountain, Peter turned to him and paused in talking about the iconography.

“There’s this tradition of throwing a euro over your shoulder into the fountain. It’s supposed to bring you luck in coming back to Rome in the future or something.” Peter shrugged and smiled sheepishly, prompting Harley’s mind to go haywire for a second as he thought about just how freaking cute this boy was.

“Do we have any coins?” Harley asked, seeing as Peter would be the one to know since he was carrying practically everything in that fanny pack of his. The boy in question unzipped the fanny pack and began searching inside, biting his lip as he did so. Harley groaned internally, trying to stop himself from staring at the boy’s lips. This was just unfair. When Peter looked up, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, it was a nice thought?” Peter said and Harley burst out laughing. They made their way back through the crowd, only after taking a few pictures in front of the fountain. Harley hoped his eyes weren’t too red in any of the pictures, because he really would prefer not to have to explain to anyone why he had been crying in the middle of Rome.

“So what’s next on the itinerary, darlin’?” Harley asked as they began walking away, this time with a little distance between them.

“You’ll see.” Peter teased back at him, moving ahead. Harley shook his head and smiled fondly before following after the boy again, thinking about how he would truly follow this boy anywhere in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Also, let me know if there are any really horrible mistakes, I got inspiration to finish this chapter at like 2am so I'm like half asleep. As always, let me know what you think! xx


	5. I wanted to be better

It turned out that the next thing on the itinerary involved steps. Lots of steps, in fact. Harley inwardly groaned as they stopped in front of said steps. They might as well have been a mountain with the way Harley was already apologizing to his legs. Behind Peter and Harley stood another fountain, though this one was a lot smaller than the previous fountain. Harley hadn’t been able to get a good look at it through the crowds of tourists and instead, had just let Peter pull him past it. Now, he followed the boy up the first set of steps. The steps themselves were crowded as well, and Harley found himself slithering around the slow walkers and the few people that were sitting on the steps.

“These are the Spanish Steps. They’re super old though so you’re not really supposed to sit down or linger on them or you’ll get in trouble,” Peter said as they continued up the stairs. Sure enough, when Harley turned to look back at the couple he had walked around, they looked as though they were being reprimanded for sitting down. Peter continued talking, “There are a few inscriptions the further you go up though.” Harley supposed that was what Peter wanted to see.

By the time they had reached the first inscription, Harley had to admit to himself that maybe he was a bit out of shape. After only 4 sets of 12 steps, his legs were not happy. He looked at the inscription and raised an eyebrow at Peter, who shrugged in response.

“I never said the inscriptions were in English.” Peter smiled sheepishly, “It is pretty though.” He reached out a hand and glazed it over the wall, smiling to himself. Sure, Harley thought everything he had seen so far in Italy had been beautiful, but none of it really compared to the feeling he got watching the satisfied smile on the other boy’s face. When Peter turned towards him, Harley looked away quickly, hoping his face wasn’t as red as it felt as he acted like he had been looking at the inscription the whole time. He felt Peter’s hand brush against his for a second, his heartbeat quickening at the light touch. Almost immediately, Peter snatched his hand back, causing Harley to whip his head around and stare at the boy, who was back to staring hard at the wall, a weird look in his eyes.

“Well, c’mon darlin’, we don’t have all day,” Harley said, trying to keep his voice lighthearted as he worried about Peter. The other boy seemed to shake off whatever had been bothering him and smirked at Harley.

“Race you to the next inscription. Dibs on this side.” He pointed to the steps leading up to his right before darting off and leaving Harley where he was standing. Harley looked to the left and sighed before making his way up the steps. He thought about running but decided it was no use. His legs were already tired and Peter was definitely faster than him. He did begin to speed walk instead though, maneuvering his way through the throngs of people as he thought.

The only thing that had happened that day to cause Peter distress was his panic attack. Well, that, and his subsequent denial of why he had panicked in the first place. Harley’s mood dropped as he tried to figure out why Peter was upset. The boy had seemed fine just ten minutes earlier, bouncing back after the scene Harley had made, but apparently he was still upset. Either Peter thought he was weak for panicking or Peter had figured out that Harley’s denial was a lie and was grossed out by him. Harley’s heart clenched at both thoughts, hating the thought of Peter looking down on him for anything.

_ Can you blame him though_, Harley thought, _you were literally holding his hand for a good part of the day and now he found out you’re a disgusting –_

Harley tripped over the 24th and top step, barely catching himself as his cheeks flushed. He caught the eye of a little girl laughing at him as her parents pulled her away and up the next set of steps, but it didn’t seem as though anyone else had noticed. He still had another set of steps to go before he would reach the next inscription. As he made his way up the 20-something steps, he pushed the negative thoughts out of his mind, knowing he needed to at least attempt to act normal with Peter.

However, when he got to the top of the steps and stood in front of the inscription, Peter wasn’t there. Harley spun all around and looked for the other boy to no avail. He sighed as he waited. Why wasn’t Peter here yet? Harley hadn’t even gone faster than speed walking and yet he was there first.

“A rose for you?”

Harley jumped as he spun to the face the speaker. The Italian man held roses in his hands and was holding one out to Harley. Harley shook his head and smiled politely.

“No, thank you.” He moved away, only to be approached by yet another man with roses. He repeated himself before the man could even speak, “No, thank you.”

_ Peter, where the fuck are you_, Harley thought as he avoided eye contact with the people around him. After what felt like far too long, Peter joined him at the inscription.

“Looks like you beat me.” Peter shrugged off Harley’s worried look with a comment and a laugh. Harley smiled slightly, already filing the laugh under a list of things about Peter he didn’t like. The list only consisted of a few things, namely that fake laugh and the way Peter cried after a nightmare. Harley hated to see the boy in any pain and it almost felt like somebody had reached into his chest and twisted his heart as he listened to Peter pretend to be okay.

Harley hummed along as Peter explained more about the steps and the new inscription, even though this one was also not in English. When the boy began to move up the next set of stairs, Harley followed along with no complaints. He wasn’t used to this awkwardness between him and Peter. They had gotten along from the very first day, forging a close friendship quickly and telling each other everything. It was weird to feel like he had to watch what he said or did. Harley didn’t like it at all. By the time they reached the very top of the Spanish Steps, Harley had given up on trying to find something to say.

They took a quick look around the church that was up there. Harley didn’t know the name of it and while he wouldn’t be surprised if Peter did know, it didn’t matter because Peter didn’t say more than a few words. Harley paused on the last landing, looking out over the steps they had just climbed and into the city. He was standing there leaning against the stone barrier, which was the only thing separating him from a plummet down to the previous landing, when Peter spoke up again.

“That’s the dome of St. Peters Basilica,” he said, quietly, “It’s where the Pope lives.”

Harley cleared his throat, “It’s beautiful.”

Peter didn’t respond as he leaned his arms on top of the stone wall. It was almost unfair for the sun to be setting so beautifully in front of them, Harley thought. Despite the awkwardness he could still feel, he couldn’t stop himself from staring at the way the light glowed off of Peter’s skin. He felt the urge to make one of those cringey snapchat stories, complete with the caption of “he thought the sunset was pretty, I thought he was prettier”, but the thought had barely crossed his mind when Peter turned to him.

“We should head back down.”

The trip back down the Spanish Steps was a lot easier and faster, only hindered by Harley needing a break. He paused and sat down on one of the steps for a minute, causing Peter to stare down at him.

“You know that the fine for damage to these steps from tourists can be anywhere between 280 dollars and 450 dollars, right?” Peter said, looking unimpressed.

“Relax, I’m only sitting for a minute. I can’t possibly damage a step by sitting on it for a minute. I’ll just have Tony pay the fine if I get one. Besides, not everyone has enhancements to keep their legs from getting tired.” Harley teased, only to have the slight smile wiped off his face with Peter’s next words.

“Yeah, well, not everyone can play the recently dead parent card to get Tony to ignore the fact that all they do is waste his money on dumb shit like an easily avoidable fine.” Peter’s eyes widened as soon as the words were out of his own mouth.

Both boys froze as they stared at each other and processed the words. Harley was the first to move as he stood up wordlessly and moved past Peter and down the steps, ignoring the boy calling after him. He didn’t bother to wait for the boy chasing after him as he took off into the crowd, hoping he was going the right way.

_ You just have to get back to the Airbnb, just get back there now, _he thought repeatedly to himself, keeping the sentences on a loop in his mind to avoid thinking about anything else. He could hear Peter hesitantly trying to talk to him, but decided to ignore the boy for the time being.

When he finally got back to the site of their Airbnb, he couldn’t even be proud of himself for remembering the way. He found himself waiting impatiently for Peter to pull up the right code to buzz them back into the building, hoping that the boy had realized he didn’t want to talk. Thankfully, the boy said nothing except “3-4-2-1” and allowed Harley to storm off into the bathroom once he had put the code in and unlocked their door.

Finally alone, Harley sat down on the toilet and put his head in his hands as he took a deep breath. How could Peter even say something like that? The same Peter that had held him close the day they had met, when the loss of his mother was still fresh in his mind and heart, had said those words to him. He had been able to tell that the boy hadn’t meant to say them, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

He wasn’t sure how long he had spent in the bathroom before he finally got up to go to bed, but when he opened the door, he found a flustered Peter scrambling up from the ground. It looked as though the boy had sat there the entire time, waiting for him. Peter followed him like a puppy as he made his way to their bedroom and kicked his shoes off before throwing himself onto his bed. He curled up and turned towards the wall, not even bothering to change out his clothes.

Behind him, he could practically feel the tension as Peter stood silently.

“Harls?” He said, hesitantly. Harley gave a noncommittal grunt in response, and if he wasn’t mistaken, he was sure he heard Peter let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, I –”

“Why be sorry if that’s how you really feel?” Harley cut Peter off before he had even realized his mouth was moving.

“NO. That’s not how I feel. God, I’m just as bad as Flash, aren’t I?”

Harley turned over to face the other boy at that.

“You’re not nearly as bad as Flash.”

“Yes, I am. I thought of the one thing I knew would hurt you and said it with that intention. Specifically because I knew it would hurt. Flash has said practically the same thing to me so many times, so I knew exactly what that sentence felt like to hear, and I said it anyways.”

“Why?” Harley looked up at the boy, eyes zeroing in on his as he asked the simple question. Peter looked away and sighed.

“I was upset so I wanted to upset you in return. It was dumb and immature and I cannot say sorry enough.” Harley sat up in his bed and looked down at his hands as he played with his own fingers, determined not to let his emotions get the best of him.

“…I don’t understand what you were upset about,” Harley said, continuing on when Peter didn’t answer, “I have my theories, of course, but I don’t know for sure.”

“I’m not straight.”

Harley’s head snapped up as he tried to make eye contact with the boy in front of him, to no avail. That…had not been one of Harley’s theories.

“Oh…” Harley said, quietly.

“I… I guess I overreacted when you said that those comments were nothing to be upset about because neither of us were gay,” Peter said, finally looking up to meet Harley’s eyes. Harley gasped at the tears Peter was blinking away. “I mean, you weren’t wrong I guess. I’m not gay, I’m bisexual. Either way, it was wrong of me to let that affect me so much that I purposely hurt you in response. It’s not even like you knew that you hurt me.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Harley said, struggling to keep track of all his emotions. Excitement, fear, sadness, anger, and every emotion in between seemed to flow through him as he tried to process. He didn’t protest when Peter hesitantly walked closer to him and eventually sat next to him on the bed. “What you said really fucking hurt, darlin’.” Harley felt tears well up in his own eyes and brought a hand up to wipe them away.

“I know, Harls. I know. I understand if you can’t forgive me or are still upset –”

“I forgive you,” Harley said, looking Peter dead in the eyes as the other boy gaped at him, “I’m still hurt and I don’t know if I’ll ever forget that feeling, but I forgive you.”

Peter lunged forward and Harley allowed himself to sink into the other boy’s embrace as they both tried to stop themselves from crying. He almost didn’t hear the words Peter softly mumbled into his shoulder.

“I’ve dealt with bullies my whole life. I never wanted to be one of them. I wanted to be better.” Harley squeezed the other boy before responding.

“You are better.”


	6. Miscommunication

They didn’t sleep much that night. Despite being tired from their long day, it almost felt like there was a sort of fragility in the air. Not only had they gotten off of an eight-hour plane ride and proceeded to walk all over Rome, but they had also dealt with Harley’s panic attack and the subsequent awkwardness and hurtful words. All of that should have been enough to make the boys fall asleep instantly after they had finished apologizing to one another, but they didn’t. Instead, they had ended up cuddling on Harley’s bed. Harley had his head on his pillow and an arm around Peter, who had his own head resting on Harley’s chest as they talked quietly to each other late into the night. Harley whispered about his mother and Rose Hill, and in return, Peter softly told Harley about how he had struggled figuring out his sexuality.

As Harley listened to Peter, he felt the guilt creep up in chest. Here this boy was, spilling his guts about something so personal, and Harley was there lying to him. How dare he just lie there and let Peter open up to him and not tell the boy that he understood. Harley was psyching himself up to let the other boy know that he was gay when suddenly Tony Stark’s voice was ringing through the room.

“You better have a good excuse for giving me grey hairs this early in life.”

“Mr. Stark!” Peter said, shooting into an upright position. He pulled out his StarkPhone to find Mr. Stark’s face pulled up in a video chat already.

At the same moment, Harley laughed. “You definitely already had some grey hairs, old man.” Harley didn’t bother sitting up. The man on the other side of the screen looked back at them, unamused.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark.” Peter said. Harley laughed at the way it sounded almost like a question.

“You should be, kiddo –“ Tony began speaking before Harley cut him off.

“You’re the one that’s just blasting your voice into our space instead of just calling and waiting for us to pick up like a normal, non-invasive, person.” Harley sat up behind Peter, leaning forward to rest his head on the other boy’s shoulder as he looked at the phone. The man in question simply raised an eyebrow.

“Funny that, smartass, I tried calling multiple times before I patched myself through, thank you very much.” Despite the insult, Tony couldn’t hide the slight twitch of his lips as he held back a smile.

“I’m so sorry we forgot to tell you we were safe, Mr. Stark. It just slipped our minds once we got off the plane.” Peter’s words reminded Harley of the likely reason that Tony was calling.

“I’m sure Tony tracked our locations and figured out we were safe hours ago.” Harley whispered in Peter’s ear, purposely ignoring the billionaire clearing his throat on the phone screen.

“I’m going to assume whatever you just said was bullshit and ignore it. Now, why do you two look like death?” Tony said, ever to the point. “And did they only give you one bed? I can get you an upgraded place with two beds within the hour. Friday, pull up some lodging options in Rome.” Tony rambled off.

“No, we’re fine! We have two beds, I swear. We were just sharing this one.” Peter said, flushing bright red.

“Yeah. What he said.” Harley said, absentmindedly. Did Tony know that Peter was bisexual? If he did, then them sharing a bed would seem pretty gay.

“I mean, we weren’t like sleeping in the same bed. We were still awake.” Peter continued talking, digging them deeper into a hole. Harley winced. It was 3am and Peter just blurted out that they were in bed together but not sleeping. Yep, that was definitely a little gay.

“Oh? Well, you guys going on this trip alone makes a bit more sense now,” Tony looked uncomfortable, “Be safe. Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do. All the parenting jazz that I’m supposed to say in this type of situation.” Tony said, sounding slightly more awkward than Harley had ever expected to hear him.

“What type of situat –” Peter began to ask. Harley reached out to end the call before anything more could be said, leaning back and letting out a huge breath as the room went silent again. “Why’d you do that?” Peter turned around to face Harley. Harley flushed as he realized that he had just ended the call without even denying it.

“Pete, you just told him that we are in bed together at 3am and not sleeping.”

“And?” The boy looked confused, making the flush on Harley’s face get deeper as he realized he would have to explain to Peter.

“Pete, he thinks we were doing…things.” Harley watched as Peter tried to figure out what he meant.

“Things? What do you…oh my god.”

“Yeah.” Harley knew that it had clicked for Peter as the boy’s face went beet red.

“But…why did you just hang up?!” Peter whisper-screamed at Harley, “You just… we didn’t deny it, oh my god.”

“I panicked! I didn’t mean to!” Harley defended himself as the other boy stared at him, accusingly. Peter got off the bed and began to pace.

“Oh my god. Mr. Stark thinks I’m…that we’re…what do I even say to him now? He already knows that I’m not straight, so I can’t exactly use that as an excuse to prove that nothing happened.” Peter was muttering to himself. He suddenly turned back to Harley. “But you’re straight, right?!” Harley froze, mind racing as he thought about what to say. Suddenly, he almost wanted to tell the younger boy the truth. He opened his mouth to speak, but Peter had already taken his silence as an affirmative. “So obviously nothing would happen because you would never be interested in a guy in that way, let alone me.” Peter smiled triumphantly.

Any words that Harley had been ready to say died in his throat as he forced a weak smile on his face and nodded. Peter sighed in relief and left the room to use the bathroom, leaving Harley alone to gather his thoughts.

Several times in that past hour, Harley had been ready to come out to Peter, but both times, his chance had come and gone before he could blink. Harley curled up on his bed, facing towards the wall as he mulled over it. At that point, he couldn’t come out to Peter. Not after seeing how relieved the boy was to have something to dispute Tony’s idea of them being together. Tears welled up in Harley’s eyes as he recalled how happily Peter had declared him as straight. It might have been dumb, but some part of Harley had wanted Peter to be disappointed by that. Instead, the boy didn’t seem to care at all.

When Peter had come out earlier, Harley had felt a spark of hope that maybe that meant his crush wasn’t so hopeless after all. However, seeing how relieved Peter was that Harley was straight, it was obvious that the boy didn’t like him. Harley being gay wouldn’t change that. When he heard the door to their room open, Harley tried his best to regulate his breathing, not wanting to let Peter know he was upset. He listened as the boy got into the other bed.

“Night, Harley.” The whisper was loud in the otherwise quiet room. Not trusting himself to speak without giving away his tears, Harley just mumbled in response, hoping that his intruding thoughts wouldn’t keep him up too much longer.

The next day started off awkward. Harley woke up to the sound of Peter on the phone with Tony despite the fact that it was definitely the middle of the night in New York. Peter was laughing with the older man, and flashed a smile and thumbs up when he saw that Harley was awake. Harley took that to mean that the ‘Harley is straight’ conversation had gone well, and left the room to go shower. By the time he was done, Peter was off the phone and waiting for him. The boy seemed brighter than the day before and full of excitement, countering Harley’s sour mood. Not wanting to cause any suspicion, Harley plastered on a smile and followed Peter out the door. Like the day before, Harley had no clue where they were heading.

“Are we going to the Colosseum?” Harley asked.

“You’ll see.”

“I know…we’re going to the Spanish Steps.”

“Harls, we already went to the Spanish Steps.” Harley could hear the laugh in Peter’s voice as the younger boy continued to let him guess.

“Okay, but what if we’re going to the Eiffel Tower?”

“That’s not even possible.” Peter said as the entered the metro.

“Anything is possible, darlin’.” Harley teased, having to stop himself from reaching out and pulling Peter close to him. They had always been touchy and flirty with each other, but for the first time since the day before, Harley let the implications of Peter’s coming out come to mind.

Would it be weird for him to be flirty with Peter now? As far as Peter knew, Harley was straight, so Harley was sure he was the only one really thinking about this. To Peter, a straight guy flirting with his bisexual best friend was just the nature of their friendship. On the other hand, Harley had actually been a gay guy flirting with what he had thought was his straight best friend. He wasn’t sure if there was a line he would be crossing if he continued acting the same way, knowing information that Peter didn’t know. It’s not like his intention was changing? He had always been flirting with his crush all along.

“Harls?” Peter sounded hesitant as he attempted to draw Harley out of his thoughts.

“Sorry. Was just thinking, darlin’.” Harley smiled as he followed Peter onto the train. As the other boy rambled, he tried his best to process the words while still thinking about his dilemma. Before he knew it, they were getting off and he was following Peter up the stairs and out into the street. Almost immediately, the sound of street music reached their ears and Harley could already feel it lifting his spirits. There was something special about listening to the musicians as they walked.

“Souvenirs over here!”

“Water! Roasted chestnuts!”

On all sides, there seemed to be somebody yelling, in either English or Italian, for the tourists to stop. Part of Harley was annoyed, but the bigger part was excited. He felt like a child as he moved towards a mouth, almost forgetting to grab Peter. The other boy watched on as Harley looked at the small knick-knacks. They were obviously cheap, but Harley didn’t let that diminish his fun. He grabbed a keychain and held it up for Peter to see.

“That looks tacky.” Peter said, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s an Italian horn! I’m getting it for Tony.” Harley purchased the bright red horn from the vendor before motioning for Peter to continue the way.

“You’re unbelievable.” Peter shook his head, laughing as he grabbed Harley’s hand and began pulling him back into the crowd. As they walked, Harley was fixated on his hand in Peter’s. Despite his best efforts, all he could think about was holding tight and never letting go. They had barely gotten ten feet when Harley did the opposite and yanked his hand away, ignoring the weird look Peter sent his way as he stuffed his hand into his pocket.

Harley cursed himself for being so obvious. There was no way the other boy hadn’t noticed his weird reaction and elevated heart rate. It wasn’t his fault that everything had a different meaning now. At least when he had thought Peter was straight and his crush was hopeless, he could keep his emotions in check. Now, he couldn’t even hold the other boys’ hand without being overwhelmed by the idea of it being something more. Thankfully, Peter didn’t say anything about it and let Harley brood as they made their way through the crowd.

Harley dutifully followed behind Peter in silence. He felt slightly better knowing that conversation would have been hard anyways, given how fast they were moving. He had barely noticed the crowd thinning when they stopped suddenly. He bumped into Peter’s back before hastily moved backwards, removing himself from the other boy. He looked around the boy to see security guards checking people’s bags. Off to the side was a sign.

“Ahh, the Vatican. How very holy of you.” Harley teased as they waited in line.

“Shut up.” Peter elbowed him, rolling his eyes.

Thankfully, the line went by quickly and within a few minutes, they were in. Harley looked around himself in awe. The columns were huge and there were statues at the very top of some of them. Harley had never felt so impossibly small. They made their way past a fountain, only stopping when an Italian woman waved them down. Harley had been content to just turn away and pretend he hadn’t seen, but Peter had immediately gone up to her. It turned out that she just wanted to show them a cool trick.

“So if you stand right here and look to the right, you can count the columns. But if you stand here and look to the left, you can’t count or see all of them in a row because of the angle.”

They both tried it and found it to be true before thanking the woman and walking away and joining the back of a crowd facing the basilica.

“Why are there so many people?” Harley craned his neck to see, while Peter shrugged in response.

“No clue.”

After ten minutes of waiting, they found out what the big crowd was for. Music began playing as a carriage began going around.

“Is that…is that the pope?” Harley was sure he sounded as incredulous as he felt. He turned towards Peter. “Did you bring me to see the pope ride around?”

“I had no clue he would be here at this time, I swear.” Peter looked just as surprised as Harley as they watched the head of the Roman Church. Despite not being religious in the slightest, Harley found it pretty cool to see the guy in person. The carriage did one loop around before the pope was walking up the steps and sitting down as a speech was made. When it was made clear that the speech was going to be a long one, and that the pope wasn’t actually going to talk, Peter and Harley turned away from the crowd. In true Harley fashion, he didn’t actually leave the Vatican until after he had made at least one joke.

“Hey, Peter?” He bumped shoulders with the boy.

“Yeah, Harls?”

“Do you feel like a saint in this square?” Harley watched as Peter tried to think of what Harley was talking about. He rolled his eyes as he got it, but Harley could tell he was holding back a smile.

“Because we’re in St. Peter’s Square. Ha ha, very funny, Harls. You should be a comedian.”

“Thanks, darlin’.” Harley laughed as he followed Peter out into the streets yet again, letting himself relax as they joined the crowd.

They found themselves at a pizzeria ten minutes later, sitting down and laughing as they ate. Harley made sure he was across from Peter, leaving an entire table between them. The small barrier made him feel better in a way. Sure, he was still tempted to brush that piece of hair out of Peter’s eyes, but it was a lot easier to resist that temptation when there was a whole table he would have to lean over.

When they left the pizzeria, Harley was immediately pulled down the street.

“We haven’t even digested our pizza yet and you already want gelato.” Harley teased as they entered the shop. They took their time ordering and then left with their cones. Harley had gone simple with chocolate, while Peter had some type of raspberry chocolate mix. They walked around, window shopping as they continued on with seemingly no direction.

By the time they got back to their Airbnb, only after another trip on the metro, Harley felt like his legs were going to fall off.

“Mind if I take first shower?” Harley asked, already grabbing a towel and a change of clothes. When the other boy didn’t protest, Harley made his way to the bathroom and hopped in the shower, letting the water wash off all of the sweat and grime from the day. When he was finished, he made his way back to the room. As he entered, still drying his hair with the towel, he froze. Peter was sitting on his bed, staring right at him, and he did not look happy.

“Umm, is everything okay?” Harley slowly asked, still frozen in the doorway.

“Yep, everything is great.” Peter said, no emotion in his voice or face. Harley brought the towel down and away from his head as he studied the other boy.

“Then why are you in my bed looking like you’re about to skin me alive?”

“What, are you scared you’re gonna catch my cooties?” Peter looked angry.

“What are you talking about?” Harley finally moved out of the doorway and into the room, closing the door softly.

“You were being weird today.”

Harley sighed as he realized what this was about. He knew that the conversation would come eventually but he had hoped he would have more time.

“Peter –”

“Every time we so much as brushed against each other, you flinched away. Now that you found out I’m bisexual, you can’t be near me?” Peter got up from the bed, storming towards Harley as he spoke. “You know Tony’s bisexual, right? Are you grossed out by him too?”

“What?! No!” Harley protested as he backed up.

“Oh, so you’re only grossed out by me, then?!”

“No! That’s not what I meant! I’m not grossed out by either of you.” Harley held his hands up to ward off the boy as he got closer.

“Then what is your issue? I don’t get it!” Peter looked more upset than angry as he got even closer to Harley. “Even now, you’re trying to get as far away as you can!”

Harley held his breath as he was backed up into the wall, with Peter practically right up against his chest.

“Not because I’m grossed out though!” Harley tried to defend himself while also resisting the urge to pull the boy closer. This proved to be futile when Peter moved to stand on his toes, bringing his face closer to Harley’s.

“Then tell me why you’re being so weird.” Peter practically whispered, his eyes locked on Harley’s face.

“For fucks sake, Peter –” Harley cut himself off before spinning them around so that Peter was the one against the wall. Luckily, Peter was either too surprised to resist or didn’t want to, otherwise Harley definitely wouldn’t have been able to get the boy to move. Harley didn’t waste any time before he was leaning down and connecting their lips, only thought in his mind being a mantra of _please don’t hate me please don’t hate me please don’t hate me_.


	7. Rose Hill

Harley wasn’t sure how he had expected Peter to respond. His plan had always been to keep his feelings secret, and while he’d had dreams of what it would be like to kiss the other boy before, those were just dreams. He had never bothered to think about how the boy would react. Now, he regretted that. His lips had barely touched Peter’s for seconds before his head was thrown to the side. He reached a hand up to his stinging cheek, looking wide-eyed at the boy in front of him. For his part, Peter looked just as surprised as he brought his hand back down to his side.

“Oh my god, Harle –” “I’m so sorry.”

They tried talking at the same time, with Harley gaining the upper hand as he began to ramble.

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry, god that was so dumb of me. Just cause you’re bisexual doesn’t mean you would want me to kiss you. God I’m so sorry darling –“

“Harley, I –“ Peter attempted to interrupt the other boy.

“Fuck, and I basically just forced myself on you like an asshole. Oh, god, please don’t be hate me. Way to let a guy know you like him, Harley. Fuck, I’m really the worst. I never even told you I wasn’t straight.” Harley continued to talk, barely noticing as he began to rush through his words faster.

“It’s oka –“

“I swear I was going to tell you! But then Mr. Stark called and then we had to have an excuse for why we were in the same bed and then I wasn’t sure when to tell you and godimsosorryimanidiot –“

Harley kept rambling until he physically couldn’t anymore, only due to the other boy forcibly cutting him off by pulling him down and reconnecting their lips. He gasped as he felt Peter’s lips moving against his, warm and soft in a way he didn’t expect. He put one hand on the wall next to Peter’s head while the other found its home on the boy’s hip. When the other boy slipped his hands into Harley’s hair, Harley couldn’t hold back the groan. His tongue flicked across Peter’s lips and dove deeper, desperate for more as the boy tugged at his hair.

When he finally found the strength to pull away, he kept his forehead against Peter’s, his eyes closed as he tried to calm his breathing. The other boy seemed to be doing the same in the now quiet room. Harley opened his eyes and took a step back, making eye contact with Peter, who looked as speechless as Harley felt.

“I’m very confused.” Harley said. He prided himself on being pretty smart, but he was sure anybody would be at least a little confused by the whiplash Peter just gave him. He had slapped him in response to being kissed, to then kiss Harley himself.

“We told Mr. Stark that you were straight.” Of course that’s what Peter decided to say first. Typical.

“uhhh…yeah, I guess we did.” Harley rubbed at the back of his neck nervously. “In contrast, I am actually very gay.”

“…right.” They both stood silent for a moment before Harley shook his head, wanting to get back to his first unspoken question.

“I’m still really confused by the past five minutes,” He said, feeling awkward. “Unless… you only kissed me to make me shut up.” He tried, and most likely failed, to keep the dawning horror out of his voice. Oh god, what if Peter had only kissed him because he hadn’t known what else to do?

“I wouldn’t do that, dumbass. If I really needed to get you to shut up, I would web your mouth shut or something.” Peter rolled his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Oh. Okay.” Harley said, still feeling like the world’s biggest idiot as he struggled to understand what was going on.

“So I’m assuming that since you’re gay, you weren’t avoiding me because you were disgusted?” Peter said, and really, how did Tony think either of them was a genius?

“Quite the opposite, honestly,” Harley smiled sheepishly. “I actually really fucking like you. I just never planned on saying anything since I thought you were straight. But then you came out to me and I wanted to tell you that I was gay but Tony called and we used the excuse that I was straight so I figured I couldn’t say anything then.”

“Harls…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you think you couldn’t say anything. It was wrong of me to just assume you were straight, especially with how upset I got when you assumed I was straight.” Peter said, looking so earnest in his apology that Harley almost wanted to cry.

“It’s fine, darlin. I just was overthinking everything today. I could tell I was being obvious about trying to distance myself, but I was letting my mind get to me.” Harley moved in closer to the smaller boy, trying to seem confident. “I really do like you, Peter. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I was disgusted or anything like that at all.”

Peter didn’t respond right away, causing Harley to get even more nervous and question himself. Maybe he had read the situation wrong? His expertise was in machinery, not reading people and their emotions and facial expressions. He was just about to step back when Peter placed his hand right on top of Harley’s rapidly beating heart.

“I like you too. I have since we first met, basically.” Peter said, sounding a whole lot more confident than Harley.

“Oh, you mean since I got all of my snot on your shirt?” Harley said, causing Peter to laugh and shake his head.

“Yeah, I mean, who could resist you in all your snotty glory?” He teased.

“Fuck you, Parker.” Harley rolled his eyes, trying his best to hide the smile threatening to take over his face.

“This soon in our relationship? Take me to dinner first, Harls.” Peter said. Harley blushed as he stammered in response. Peter laughed and reached back up to pull the other boy’s face down to his for a short kiss. It was only a peck that time, but Harley still felt his heart begin to race. He blushed as Peter pulled away, knowing full well that the boy could hear how fast his heart was beating. Peter pulled them towards Harley’s bed and they found themselves in practically the same position they had been in the night before. Harley had his head on his pillow and an arm around Peter, who, in turn, had his own head resting on Harley’s chest as Harley drew shapes on his back.

“Does anyone else know?” Peter said, softly. Harley’s hand froze as he processed the question, immediately knowing what Peter meant.

“Abby does.” He said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“Is that all?” Peter turned a bit on his chest to look up at Harley, who swallowed against the hard lump in his throat.

“Um…out of the people you know, yeah. I, uhh, I told a friend back in Rose Hill about a year before my mom passed away. We’re not really friends anymore.” Harley tried not to make eye contact with Peter as he blinked as fast as he could, hoping he could keep back any tears. Now wasn’t the time for him to be a crybaby.

“I’m sorry Harls.”

“It’s okay, darlin.”

“Was he the only one?”

Harley’s breath caught as he thought about how to answer the question without making Peter upset. The other boy had one of the biggest hearts and he knew Peter wouldn’t like what he had to say.

“He’s the only one I told myself…Rose Hill is a pretty small town though, so the whole school pretty much knew almost immediately.” Harley processed the way he was gripping the back of Peter’s shirt as the other boy sat up, but he couldn’t find it in himself to let go, and just sat up as well. “I, uhh, I only ever knew one other openly gay kid at my school. I mean, I don’t know for sure if he was gay, but people at least thought he was, and that was enough of a reason to give him trouble.”

“Harls…”

“Anyways, he moved away pretty quickly after the bullying started. I always thought he was lucky for that.” Harley paused, letting out a shaky breath as he cursed himself for getting emotional. Peter reached forward, cupping Harley’s face in his hands.

“Oh, baby, I had no idea…” Peter sounded almost as upset as Harley, causing the other boy to look up and meet his eyes. He knew he stood no chance at keeping his composure when he saw the wetness in Peter’s eyes. He looked down again, not sure if he could continue talking while maintaining the eye contact.

“I don’t know if my mom knew. I mean, she definitely knew about the bullying cause I came home with bruises most days, but I don’t know if she knew that it was cause I’m gay. Part of me thinks she had to of known and just never said anything. I mean, word gets around in small towns. I just… I thought it would be better to just not tell anyone once I moved in with Tony. Just get a fresh start and all.” He shrugged, not sure what else to say, looking up as a few tears made their way down his cheeks.

Peter used his thumbs to wipe away the tears, looking at Harley with an indistinguishable emotion in his eyes. He let the other boy pull him into a hug as he stopped trying to hold back his emotions. He wasn’t sure how much time passed as he cried for a younger Harley who had wanted nothing but to be himself and instead, had gotten pushed down and beaten. When he finally calmed down, he found himself being pulled onto Peter in a complete reversal from their earlier position on the bed. Harley cuddled into the boy’s chest as he closed his eyes, letting the warmth that surrounded him lull him into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a short one, but let me know what you think


	8. the other city of love

Harley rarely admitted it, but he truly was a hopeless romantic. For most of his life, he had looked forward to falling in love. When he had been super young, he had looked at his parents’ love with shining eyes and a hope in his chest that he could experience it one day. That hope had been destroyed when he was 5 and his father had left them, breaking not only his mother’s heart, but Harley’s as well. For a short while, he had been certain that love couldn’t be real, but ever the hopeless romantic, he had found himself dreaming about his future yet again.

Of course, he had been confused and frustrated when he hadn’t found himself picturing that future with any of the girls in town, but when he had finally accepted his sexuality, or at least acknowledged it, the hope blossomed again. He had been excited to find out what it was like to be vulnerable and open with somebody, and to have them be just as vulnerable and open in return. What would it be like to share your life with someone? He had been certain that waking up in somebody’s arms had to be a wonderful feeling and a perfect start to the day.

It turned out, however, that waking up in somebody’s arms was a bit different than he had expected. When Harley slowly began to wake up, the first thing he became aware of was the difficulty breathing. He supposed that was to be expected when you had somebody’s hair practically smothering you. The second thing he noticed, after moving his face as far away from the back of Peter’s head as possible, was the pain stemming from the spot on his stomach where Peter seemed to be digging his elbow in with all of his might.

Despite these things, Harley couldn’t help himself as he pulled the boy closer, ignoring the elbow in his stomach as he wallowed in the warmth. Sure, he had pieces of Peter’s hair in his mouth somehow, but that didn’t change the fact that his crush was _in his arms_. Harley wasn’t sure how long he had been lying there, ignoring how uncomfortable his body was cramped on the twin sized bed, when Peter began to move. He let out a breath of relief as the elbow that had been steadily pushing against his bladder suddenly moved away. His relief was short lived as the other boy stretched as he woke up, his arm coming up out of nowhere and hitting Harley in the face.

“Ow, fuck.” The arm froze. Harley wasn’t sure if it was due to his whispered expletive, or due to the physical contact it had just had with Harley’s face. Peter was awake almost instantly, pulling away from Harley and looking over at him with a guilty expression on his face. Before he could stammer out an apology, Harley rolled his eyes and pulled him in, kissing him softly on the lips. Harley felt a rush of satisfaction go through him as the smaller boy practically melted into him, whining when he pulled away. Harley smiled as he watched Peter’s face erupt in a blush as he cut himself off.

“Good morning, darlin’.”

“Good morning.” Peter’s voice was still sleepy as he smiled at Harley. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

_Yeah_, Harley thought as he watched Peter leave the room, _this is a perfect start to the day_.

By the time Peter was out of the shower, Harley was ready and waiting for him, wondering what the day ahead would hold. As they left the Airbnb, Harley smiled to himself as he clasped onto Peter’s hand. He didn’t bother asking where they were going, assuming that it would go the same as previous days and Peter would keep it a surprise. That was why he was shocked when Peter turned back to him with a childlike smile on his face.

“I was thinking about visiting the ruins of Torre Argentina?”

“Uhh…we aren’t in Argentina though?” Harley said, feeling dumb even as he said it.

“It just has Argentina in the name, Harls. It’s here in Rome, though.” Peter laughed, causing Harley to blush as he rolled his eyes. How was he supposed to know that?

Another trip on the metro later, Harley found himself looking over a railing and down into a large green space full of ruins and broken down things, right in the middle of Rome. There was always something about ruins that struck Harley as devastatingly beautiful. He looked around, smiling as he saw a black cat lounging on the grass. He wasn’t necessarily a cat person, but he did like them. He pointed out the cat to Peter, who laughed and directed him to look further to the right. Harley’s eyes widened as he saw at least five more cats in various spots, either sleeping or running around.

“This was turned into a cat sanctuary for the wild cats of Rome. There’s at least like 100 cats in here.” Peter said, walking over towards the stairs leading down, where a small orange cat sat. Harley watched with a smile as the boy knelt down and reached out a hand as he whispered to the cat. When Harley got closer, he saw that the stairway was blocked off with a chain so they weren’t able to go down and see the other cats. Despite this, they didn’t let it bother them and moved on from the sanctuary and into the streets of Rome.

Apparently this time, Peter wanted to bring back the surprises as he pulled Harley through the streets and didn’t answer any questions about where they were heading. For his part, Harley didn’t really give a shit where they were going. He was still flying high after the development of his and Peter’s friendship last night. He wasn’t sure what exactly that development meant. Sure, they had kissed and Peter had said that he liked Harley back, but they hadn’t talked about it more. Regardless, Harley was content to let it develop even further.

As they kept walking, Peter pulled him down another street and turned the corner, bringing a pedestrian bridge into view. Harley followed along as Peter approached the bridge, coming to a stop at the entrance. Locks lined the side of the bridge and Harley’s breath caught as he traced over a carved R + E among the locks. The locks and different carvings seemed to go on for the entirety of the bridge. His face went pink as Peter turned to look at him. They weren’t here to put a lock on this bridge, were they?

There was no way Peter had had time to buy a lock in the time since they had confessed their feelings for each other. Besides, wouldn’t it be a little soon to put a lock on the bridge? They had only confessed their feelings the night before. Luckily, Harley didn’t have time to overthink too much as Peter pulled him closer and pecked him on the lips. Harley fought the urge to tense up, still not entirely sure about how welcoming Italians were of gay men. When Peter pulled away, he looked more nervous than Harley had ever seen him.

“Hi.” He whispered up at Harley, his voice soft and barely audible on the bridge.

“Hey darling.” Harley whispered back, knowing Peter would be able to hear him no matter how quiet he was.

“I, uh, I saw that Rome had one of these love lock bridges online and thought maybe we could come here?” Peter’s face was turning pink as he talked.

“It’s really nice.” Harley said, his mind going a mile a minute as he tried to figure out what to say next. What were Peter’s intentions here?

“Um...I’m not very good at this,” Peter lifted a hand and rubbed the back of his neck. “But I really fucking like you, Harls, and I wanted to bring you here cause…I don’t know…I guess I thought it’d be romantic? But uhh…I wasn’t planning on putting a lock on the bridge, but I thought maybe it would be a good place for this.”

“For what?” Harley may have been a genius, but he had no idea where Peter was going with this.

“For asking you to be my boyfriend.” Peter said it bluntly, despite the fact that the pink on his face had evolved to a full blown blush. Harley practically felt all of the oxygen in his lungs disappear as he froze.

“Oh,” He said, a smile already threatening to break onto his face. “I would…I would really like that, darling.”

When Peter’s face broke into a smile, Harley couldn’t stop his from doing the same, laughing slightly. Peter crashed their lips together again, making this kiss longer than the previous peck but still fairly innocent and short. Harley pulled away, still unable to stop smiling.

“You know, Rome may not be the city of love, but I’ve gotta say…I think this beats Paris any day.” Harley said, reaching forward to brush his hand against Peter’s face.

“Yeah, it does. Besides, it can be considered the other city of love for us.”

Harley laughed, pulling his _boyfriend_into another kiss, thinking about how this couldn’t possibly get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of this fic! I was thinking of making a second part where Tony finds out so let me know if that would be something y'all would be interested in!! Happy New Year <3

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys like this. Let me know what you think in the comments. Grazie x


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